JACKSONVILLE, Illinois - The Prairie Fire men's soccer team defeated Illinois College 2-1 on Wednesday night. With the victory, Knox has captured the regular-season Midwest Conference title! 

The Blueboys struck first with a goal in the sixth minute. Illinois College maintained their 1-0 lead throughout the first half.

The Prairie Fire scored two goals in quick succession in the middle of the second half, a goal by Alex White in the 63rd minute and then a score from Pedro Moura just four minutes later. Moura also assisted on White's goal.

"We didn't start the game well," said senior captain Raleigh Berry. "But at the end of the day champions find a way."

Knox outshot the Blueboys 17-8 overall and 11-5 on goal.

""This team has done things the hard way all year," said head coach Brian O'Connor. "We were terrible in the 1st half, but credit to IC and Coach Philpott they came out and grabbed the game. Once we regrouped at half we came out and played effective attacking soccer. Champions find ways to win when they're not in top form and we did that tonight."

As the regular-season champion, Knox will host the four-team MWC Tournament on November 5 and 6. The semifinal games will be played Friday and the tournament final on Saturday. The remaining tournament participants and game schedule are still to be determined. More detailed tournament information will be available on the Prairie Fire webpage at a later date.

This is the men's third regular-season MWC Championship in the last four seasons, and sixth overall. It is also the eighth consecutive MWC Tournament appearance for the Prairie Fire. The team has lost only three regular-season conference games over the past five seasons, and won the MWC Tournament in 2018. During the 2021 season, the Prairie Fire has shut out four of their eight conference opponents, and allowed only six goals in conference play this year.